Pop-rock experimentalists Garbage are currently holed up in their Madison, Wisconsin, studio working on a new album, but singer Shirley Manson surfaced online Tuesday to talk about the band's progress.

Speaking with fans during a chat on gURL.com, Manson noted that "at the moment, it's too early to give a definitive answer, but so far it's heavier, perhaps, than 'Version 2.0.' But we might get bored with that and strip it down to bare minimalism. Who knows."

Manson was chatting with gURL to plug the radio station she programmed and hosted for the site, but she also talked extensively about the new album. She said Garbage put plans for a B-sides compilation (as well as a home video and other projects) on hold because "our record company [Almo Sounds] is in the process of being sold, which leaves us essentially label-less, but we're still bound by our contract to the label, which leaves us kind of frozen."

Despite

that snag, the band continues to plow ahead on a new album, and Manson said she's been playing more guitar in the studio this time around.

"I decided that I wanted to play more guitar in the live context because I got a little disheartened on tour last summer when Garbage was playing all the summer festivals, and I found myself to be the only female on the bill," Manson explained. "I decided there and then that I would go back home and learn to play my guitar like a pro because I wanted to inspire people, particularly women, to pick up a guitar and make a noise."

While Manson was down with the girl-power vibe during the gURL.com chat, she had some less than sisterly words for the current crop of female chart-climbers. "It is indeed true that I've softened my hard-line approach toward Britney [Spears] simply because if we're going to have any such vacuous pop stars in our midst, it's all right if it's Britney because she has a sense of humor, unlike [Christina Aguilera]

and that hideous creature Mandy Moore. I try not to dis too many of my fellow female musicians, but I make an exception when they really hit rock bottom. Mandy Moore is foul, you must admit. She is absolutely hideous. I want to slap her from here to Tuesday."

Asked the most important question of the night -- when can fans expect a new Garbage album in stores -- Manson answered, "Don't ask questions like that! They make me edgy!"